Hydraulic barrier structure for roadways



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RE FOR [54] HYDRAULIC BARRIER STRUCTU ROADWAYS ABSTRACTt A device for 10 Claims, 31 Drawing Figs. [52] preventing or hindering motor vehicles from going off a roadway by providing the sides and/or the middle of a road with a continuous line of hydraulic barriers formed with flexible, deformable, long tubular or E01i'l5/00 ...........256/l, 13.1; 293/7l,60, l; l l4/2l9 [5i] lnt.Cl............ [50] FieldotSearch...........................

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kinetic energy of an im Patented Nov. 17, 1970 Sheet L of '7 INVENTOR ALBERTO GUZZARDELLA BY Wag ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 17, 1970 Sheet 3.; of 7 INVENTOR ALBERTO GUZZARDELLA ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 17, 1970 Sheet of 7 INVENTOR ALBERTO GUZZARDELLA Patented Nov. 17, 1970 Sheet 5 of 7 2/6 rV/v INVENTOR w l I.

ALBERTO GUZZ'ARDELLA ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 17, 1970 3,540,699

Sheet 5 of 7 F/GJZ I INVENTOR ALBERTO GUZZARDELLA ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 17, 1970 3,540,699

Sheet 6 of? FIG. INVENTOR ALBERTO GUZZARDELLA W mwz TTNEYS Patented Nov. 17, 1970 3,540,699

Sheet INVENTOR ALBERTO GUZZARDELLA WMWX I" J ATTORNEYS HYDRAULIC BARRIER STRUCTURE FOR ROADWAYS The present invention is concerned with a method and means for protecting motor vehicles, by preventing their going off the roadway by means of one or more rows of barriers constituted by flexible containers filled with water or aqueous solutions or aqueous suspensions or also different, suitable liquid materials.

The invention is also concerned with the method for constructing said protective barriers, with their proportioning according to the traffic characteristics, in particular according to the speed and the weight of the motor vehicles, as well as with the manner of constructing the containers constituting the barriers.

The barriers can be placed along the sides or in the middle or in the traffic islands of roadways.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a hydraulic barrier structure which will effectively prevent vehicles from running off roadways while holding damages to a minimum.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a hydraulic barrier structure which can be readily and economically produced.

The means for accomplishing the foregoing objects and other advantages, which will be apparent to those skilled in FIG. 27 shows an empty tube obtained from the sheet of FIG. 26 by' folding and sealing the longitudinal edges: the tube is divided into groups each comprising three elements;

FIGS. 28 and 29 show respectively a side view and a plan view of a connection between two tubular containers by superimposing and sealing the ends, and

FIGS. 30 and 31 are similar to FIGS. 28 and 29 and show a connection by means ofwelding and seaming.

In the FIGS. from I to 4, a packsaddle I is provided with filling openings 2 and discharging openings 3 and 4, and is mounted on the vertical support means which comprises a pedestal 7 within which plates and 6 are placed and fastened with a wedge 9. These supports having the form of a tuning fork are connected together by a net 8 placed between the plates 5 and 6. Each tract of net is provided at its horizontal ends with rings 14 (FIG. 3). The various net tracts are conthe art, are set forth in the following specification and claims,

and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings dealing with several embodiments of the present invention. Reference is made now to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a vertical cross section of an antishock hydraulic packsaddle container and of the support thereof;

FIG. 2 shows a horizontal section along 2-2 ofthe FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal sectional along the middle vertical plane of the support of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows a further horizontal section along 4-4 of FIG.

FIG. 5 shows a side view of a barrier constituted of cylindrical containers;

FIG. 6 shows a plan view ofa tract of the barrier ofFIG. 5;

FIG. 7 shows a side view of a barrier constituted by two rows of cylindrical containers;

FIG. 8 shows a plan view of a tract of the barrier of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 shows a side view ofa barrier constituted of cylindrical containers supported by support in the form of overturned FIG. 10 shows a plan view ofa tract of the barrier of FIG. 9;

FIGS. 11 and 12 show respectively a side view and a plan view of a tract of a barrier constituted of packsaddle containers;

FIG. 13 shows a section of a road having short walls, along its sides, and hydraulic barriers constituted of packsaddle con- 0 tainers put against the walls;

FIG. 14 shows a section of a road having hydraulic barriers, spaced from its edges, placed along each side;

FIG. l5 shows a section ofa road having two lateral barriers and a barrier in the middle;

FIG. 16 shows a section ofa road having two lateral and two central barriers;

FIGS. 17 and 18 show a motor vehicle impacting respectively frontally and obliquely into the hydraulic barrier;

FIG. 19 shows a vertical, longitudinal section ofa hydraulic container formed of a long tube with equidistant narrowing rings forming the various elements; the elements comprised between two rings of the tube, which prevent the passage of the liquid, constitute the group or tract of the barrier;

FIG. 20 shows a frontal view of the barrier ofFIG. 19;

FIGS. 21, 22 and 23 show cross sections of the barrier of FIG. 20 respectively along lines 21-21, 22-22 and 23-23;

FIGS. 24 and 25 show respectively a narrowing ring and-a narrowing lace;

FIG. 26 shows a sheet spread on the ground, having an indefinite length and a width nearly equal to the perimeter ofthe cross section of the tubular barrier;

nected by superimposing the rings I4 and threading them on a post 15.

As it can be particularly seen from FIG. 4, the plates 5 may be grooved along their vertical edges so as to receive the rings I4.

Various types of hydraulic barriers constituted by short containers are shown in FIGS. 5 to 12.

The type shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is suitable for placement against a short wall or the like. Each container can be fastened to the vertical support plate 5a with the laces 32.

The type shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 comprises two square supports 5a bound between them and connected in succession by the net 33; it can be noted that the containers of two successive rows are staggered with respect to one another.

Different kinds of hydraulic barriers to be used according to the different characteristics of the roads are shown in the FIGS. 13 to 16. The barriers represented in the FIGS. 14, 15 and 16 are free to shift under impact of a tract equal to distance 5.

FIG. 17 shows a vehicle striking the barrier at straight on from the front. FIG. 18 shows a vehicle striking the barrier at an oblique angle.

In the FIGS. 19 to 23, 50 indicates the narrowing ring of lace placed in the middle of two intercommunicating elemerits; 51 indicates the sealing of the tube to form adjacent groups of elements, for example, by welding of the tube walls in the middle ofa ring; 52 indicates the opening provided with a plug, for filling a group of elements; 53 indicates the discharge opening.

On the tube of FIG. 27, the dashed line 54 indicates the position of the narrowing rings, and the lines 55 indicate the lines along whichthe tube is closed, for example, by welding, so separating agroup ofelements oflength g, each element having a length d.

The problem of preventing motor vehicles from accidentally going off the roadway, thus reducing to a minimum damages to the same vehicles and to the passengers, is old. It is solved satisfactorily enough by means of the well-known wayside posts, which have been generally substituted with the guardrails which should send the impacting vehicle back on the roadway, thus reducing to a minimum the damages to persons and vehicles. Actually, the guardrail is satisfactory only in the case of grazing impacts, while, in the case of strongly angled impacts, the damages to persons and vehicles are not avoided and are serious.

The protecting means used today, such as wayside posts, guardrails, masonry barriers and the like, show many inconveniences; as a matter of fact, they do not avoid the blow, have a too high restitution coefficient of the kinetic energy possessed by the impacting vehicle so that it bounds back and, finally, they do not allow impact times long enoughto reduce the forces of inertia, arising as a consequence of the variation in the speed, within limits compatible with the physical well 7 avoids damages to the persons and to vehicles or, at the worst, drastically reduces them.

The method according to the invention is based on the finding that water, when contained in flexible containers which are strong enough to resist impact without breaking, or at least without immediately breaking, possesses in high degree the capacity to dissipate the kinetic energy of an impacting vehicle. Besides water, the above characteristic is possessed by aqueous solutions, such as sea water, aqueous suspensions and other similar liquid materials.

The method of the present invention is performed by placing continuous barriers constituted by water contained in flexible containers, of the continuousor bag-type, preferably linked together in a row along the edge or the middle of the roadway.

These containers may be constituted by tubes of any desired length, for instance, 200 m. or more, or may be of a limited reduced length, such as from 30 to 150 cm.

The bag-type of short containers may have, when filled with water, a cylindrical, spherical, parallelepiped shape or also may assume a peculiar shape such as a packsaddle.

The container walls have a thickness preferably comprised between 0.3 to 3 mm. They are made of flexible materials such as polypropylene, polyethylene, neoprene, water-proofed fabric or also of ply sheets ofdifferent materials.

If the containers are made of thermoplastic materials, they can be directly extruded in the shape of a continuous tube or can be made up from a flat sheet of any desired length, whose edges are superimposed and joined by heat sealing, sticking or seaming. Seaming may be used in the case of containers made ofwaterproofed fabric.

According to a useful embodiment of the invention, the

I containers consist of a strong external wrapper and of a thin internal envelope or lining made of a plastic material, which confers waterproofness to the whole.

The internal envelope can be in some manner bound to the external one or can be independent of it.

Ifdesired, the containers can be constituted by a plurality of envelopes or their walls can be made of laminated materials so as to satisfy the different requirements and also the climatic conditions.

The barriers can be further protected with aprons, for instance, applied on the containers in correspondence to the zones of possible impacts.

Each container is provided in the upper part with a filling opening which may be closed with a threaded plug; similar openings and plugs can be provided in the lower part of the container to discharge the liquid. The short containers, i.e. those with a length comprised between 30 and 150 cm.; can be maintained in-position by means of supports of various shapes, for example, shaped as an L" or an overturned T" with equal or different arms, or ofa tuning fork shape, (particularly useful for containers ofa packsaddle type) and so on.

The supports can be constructed of plastic materials or wood or any other suitable material; one or more supports may be foreseen for each container depending on the degree of mobility to be conferred to the barrier.

The containers can be fastened together with ropes, cords, metallic or synthetic material nets suitably sized to resist the impacts which can be foreseen for the barrier.

The short containers can be directly bound or their supports can be fastened among them so as to form in any case barriers of any desired length.

When a continuous tube of considerable length, sealed at the two ends, is used, it is divided into intercommunicating elements, for instance, by means of narrowing rings or laces of smaller diameter than the pipe. These rings cause the pipe to become higher with respect to the road level, than a tube without rings. Between two contiguous rings, an element is formed particularly suitable to the antishock function.

Although the rings narrow the passage between two ele ments of the tube, they still allow the pouring off of the water from the impacted element to the contiguous elements, thus also performing a better absorption ofthe kinetic energy and a better lowering 'of the blow.

in order to avoid the breaking of an element as a consequence of the impact, which could cause the pouring off of all the liquid contained in the tube, each tube is divided into groups formed of two or more elements, which groups are sealed at their ends so as to prevent any passage of liquid from one group to another. The sealing is performed in correspondence with the'narrowing rings by means of sewing or electronic welding or sticking with adhesives. Each group needs only one opening with its plug to discharge the liquid from the bottom.

In order to construct the barrier with a tube of indefinite length, the same is placed on the ground in length and each group is filled with water or aqueous solutions or aqueous suspensions or other liquids, in some cases containing antifreeze. The feeding in of water causes a remarkable shortening of the tube due to the narrowings in correspondence with the rings, laces and the like; the shortening depends on the distance between contiguous rings and laces.

Thus, when the empty tube is placed on the ground, it is made to occupy a length corresponding to that of the filled tube, so as to avoid slipping on the ground and dangerous tensions which would also prevent a filling up to the desired filling coefficient.

The filling coefficient is the ratio between the water volume contained in one container and the maximum water volume which the same container could hold, taking into account that in the case ofa continuous tube, the containers are constituted by the single elements. The filling ratio is kept between 0.4 and 1, preferably between 0.6 and 0.7 for short containers and near 0.8 for the elements of continuous pipes.

The barriers constituted of tubes need neither supports, nets nor connecting ropes; only the ends of the tube are suitably connected by means of welding, sewing, binding and the like, thus forming continuous barriers.

Each element of the tubular container, when filled with water, is 0.5-2 m. high on the ground, preferably 0.7-l.l m.; is 0.5 to 5.m., preferably l2 m. long; and is 0.5-2 m., preferably 0.8-;-|.5 m. thick.

The narrowing rings and laces have a diameter of 10-80, preferably 50 cm. Their cross section diameter is generally comprised between 2 and 40 mm., depending on the construction material used, for example steel, plastic material. fabrics and so on.

Each short container, when filled with water, shows a height and a thickness of nearly 0.5-1.5 m. I

The barriers, according to the invention, can be fixed; for example, they can be placed against the parapet of bridges or wall, but preferably are mobile and, under impact, can shift on the ground. The fixed barrier absorbs the kinetic energy of the impacting vehicle through deformation of the directly impacted containers and of the contiguous ones. The mobile barrier absorbs the kinetic energy both as a consequence of the deformation of the containers and of the shifting or displacement of the same on the ground. Such shifting can be ofa few centimeters or of more than 1 m., depending on the impact and the roadway.

When possible, the mobile barriers are preferred, since obviously they can absorb more kinetic energy of the impacting vehicle.

The barrier thickness may vary from 50 cm. to 2 m. or even more. For example, in the curves of exit ramps, the barrier can reach a thickness of many meters by disposing in succession a number of rows of containers.

The behavior of the barrier, according to the invention, under a vehicle angled impact is now considered; a frontal impact is by far less frequent.

In the considered case of an angled impact, the motor vehicle forms with the impacted barrier an acute angle which may diminish or increase during the impact.

The shifting or displacement of the barrier corresponds to the normal component of the vehicle speed, while the tangential component causes a slippage along the external side ofthe barrier; this slipping, besides the deformation of many'containers at the same time, provides for dissipating the kinetic energy of the vehicle.

As a consequence, the shifting of the barrier towards the sides of the road (as well as the energy dissipated by friction on the ground) will be less in an angled impact than in a frontal one.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present invention is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore to be embraced therein.

lclaim:

1. A hydraulic barrier structure for preventing or hindering travelling vehicles from running off a roadway while protecting the vehicles and passengers therein comprising a plurality of closed containers at least partially filled with unpressurized liquid, said containers having a height and a thickness in the range of 0.5 to 1.5 m. and being made of thin, flexible. waterproof material, and support means comprising a ground engaging plate and at least one vertically extending member, said barrier structure substantially freely resting on the ground with said containers being mounted on said support means closely adjacent one another.

2. A hydraulic barrier according to claim 1 in which the mass ofthe liquid enclosed in said container is no less than the mass ofthe impacting vehicle.

3. A hydraulic barrier according to claim 1 in which said containers have a filling coefficient in the range of0.4 to l.

4. A hydraulic barrier according to claim 1 in which said containers are made of reinforced plastic material having a thickness in the range of from 0.3 to 3 mm.

5. A hydraulic barrier according to claim 1 in which said containers comprise an external mechanically strong envelope and an internal waterproof envelope.

6. A hydraulic barrier according to claim 1 further comprising a plurality of said containers closely adjacent to each other to form a continuous barrier, and means for selectively fastening adjoining containers and adjoining support means to on another.

7. A hydraulic barrier according to claim 1 in which said container comprises a tube of great longitudinal length and sealed at each end, said container being positioned horizontally alongside the roadway and having a filled height and thickness of0.5 to 2 m.

8. A hydraulic barrier according to claim 7 wherein said tube comprises a plurality of noncommunicating tracts having a length in the range of 0.5 to 5 m., each of said tract being divided into a plurality of elements intercommunicating through narrow openings.

9. A hydraulic barrier structure for preventing or hindering travelling vehicles from running off a roadway while protecting the vehicles and passengers therein, comprising at least one container at least partially filled with an unpressurized liquid, said container being made of thin, flexible, waterproof material and having a height and a thickness between 0.5 and 2 m., the mass of the liquid set in motion by an impacting vehicle being of about the same order as the vehicle, and support means for providing vertical height to said barrier structure, said at least one container being mounted on said support means.

10. A hydraulic barrier according to claim 9 in which said barrier structure freely rests on the ground and may be shifted under strong impact. 

